Chapter 30: Ursi Ek'fon

Leritor

Most sources in the Galaxy would characterise Leritor as an undeveloped Mid Rim world with little of archeological, technological, or historical interest. The human inhabitants were mainly farmers living in the interior plains of the largest continent. Conversely, the native sentient crustacean Sauvax inhabited the coastal regions, engaging in primitive aquaculture.

However, those same sources would be wrong. A little over two centuries ago, a mysterious grey Doonium pyramid, seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of Leritor's southern ocean. By the time the human settlers could so much as say the words salvage rights, hundreds of Bothans from Kothlis and Manda had descended upon the algae and seaweed-covered structure.

Upon naming it Gnipahellir the Bothans promptly began affixing prefabricated structures and landing pads to its exterior. Soon they were joined by Kaminoans, who replaced the makeshift shacks around the mysterious structure with three giant hemispherical domes.

With the Bothans and Kaminoans buying large amounts of crops from the mainland, the humans moved on, and the issue of the mysterious structure was entirely forgotten.

o.o.o.o.o

On a landing pad affixed to a Kaminoan dome, a GR-45 Gallofree Transport out of Atzerri was parked. Two Bothans emerged from the transport onto the windswept landing pad.

While Ursi Ek'fon had met the Dark Lord Garmr once before, this was her first time on Leritor. She was surprised how much Gnipahellir resembled Tipoca.

If it weren't for the eerie grey pyramid towering over these domes in the distance, I'd think I was in Tipoca. As Ursi walked forward, she looked up into the bright blue sky without a cloud in sight. That and the weather.

When the two Bothans reached the wall of the nearest dome structure, a pair of Kamino-style transparisteel automatic doors quickly slid open, revealing a bright white interior. The air inside did not smell at all like Kamino however.

Rather than sterile, humid, and air-conditioned, the air inside Gnipahellir smelled wet, salty, and seaweedy. And a slightly rotten tone, Ursi thought to herself. Like a crab… Or a—

—She yelped in terror, stumbling upon two giant crab-like creatures around the first corner.

"Calm down!" Vasa hissed. "We're sorry, she's new here," she added apologetically.

The crustacean creatures were about 1.8 meters tall. Each had six legs and two wide arms, carrying bulky pincers. Their torsos were oriented upright, dominated by carapaces. The Sauvax on the left had blueish carapaces starting toward the bottom of his torso, and all six of his legs were blue. The Sauvax on the right, conversely, was entirely red. Each had a humanoid shaped head, close enough to human-looking for Ursi to realise the entirely red one was female. And they reeked. They smelled like the worst fish shack on Atzerri.

For a moment, the two Sauvaxes and two Bothans stared at each other, unable to decide what to do.

"Oh!" a female voice gasped from somewhere. "My apologies if Luugor and Vruj startled you."

Ursi spun around, regarding the more familiar face of an almond-eyed Kaminoan female. Like all the other Kaminoans Ursi had met, this one's eyes glistened with a mesmerising speckled white light, even when they were indoors.

"I am Hira Ko, Lord Garmoros's administrator," the Kaminoan said with a bow.

Garmoros, Ursi scoweld. Garmr… Garmoros… What type of self-respecting Bothan gives himself a Caamasi name? Ursi bowed back politely. "Nice to meet you."

Hira turned to the two Sauvaxes. "Luugor, Vruj, take these lesser demons to see the Dark Lord."

"Lesser demons?!" Ursi snarled. She was so incensed that her yellowish tan fur stood on end.

"Come with us," chuckled Vruj, the Sauvax female. She pointed a huge claw down the hallway, leading the way.

Vasa followed them without hesitation.

Reluctantly, Ursi followed, flashing her teeth. Demons?!

"Kloyiyiforu pa Kashkul Beskgrum nar korm Owodzhad yaku pa Garmr." ["The Dark Lord rules over this world as Garmr,"] Vasa whispered quietly in Bothese.

["Garmr? Yeah an old-Bothese sounding name,"] Ursi hissed back in Bothese.

["No, Garmr, the Rakata Force Hound who conquered Leritor for the Infinite Empire. Garmr, the demon who enslaved them and countless other worlds!"]

["How could they possibly believe him?!"] Ursi snarled loudly. ["The Rakatan Empire fell 25,000 years ago!"]

"Dakril yag aggerezen za." ["Because he has risen,"] Luugor—one of the Sauvaxes, explained in Bothese.

["Just let them believe what they want to believe,"] Vasa suggested with a shrug. ["It's how I always view things. If they want to worship Garmr, who are we to stop them?"]

Ursi scowled, narrowing her eyes at the crustaceans. She looked straight ahead of her as they exited the Kaminoan dome, heading onto a platform connecting with an older-looking pyramidal structure.

Bothans ruling over primitive worlds gods and demons was a dastardly part of early Bothan interplanetary history, one which Ursi did not approve of. She opened her snout, looked up, and said forcefully "Nokiz-yasisk erz pa Garmr—" ["Garmr is not a real—"

—But she gasped before she finished, fur falling flat. Ursi had not been paying attention to her surroundings. Straight ahead, the bridge leading into the pyramid ended beneath the statue of a shadowy cloaked figure. The statue's legs were spread wide, forming an awkward archway any visitor was forced to walk under. It was the face of the figure though, that caught Ursi's attention.

Poking out from beneath the massive ancient statue's dark hood was a distinctly Bothan face. The face had pale white, with red and black symbols dyed into it, and bright red eyes. It was a face Ursi recognised—the face of the so-called Dark Lord when he was visiting Kothlis.

"It can't be!" Ursi gasped in Basic.

o.o.o.o.o

Or could it be?

As Ursi walked deeper into the strange alien structure, with dark grey halls and red carpets, very unlike the Kaminoan structure she had just left, she wondered to herself whether their friend on Leritor could be the Garmr.

Ursi knew tiny bits of Rakatan history from when she had taken courses at the Bothan Academy of Applied Xeno-Anthropology. The Force Hounds were force-sensitive non-Rakatan sentients whom the Rakatans tasked with finding so-called 'Force Rich' worlds. The fact that a Force Hound once had a Bothan form—many tens of thousands of years before Bothans were known to be space-faring—Ursi found perturbing. Far less perturbing than the possibility she had actually met this Bothan.

With essence transfer technology, she reasoned it theoretically was possible for a Bothan to continue transferring his consciousness to a younger host before death. Over and over again… One could be immortal.

But the Kaminoan Cloning technology is new… The Dark Lord wouldn't have needed the Kaminoans here if he had access to Rakatan Cloning tech. Transferring one's consciousness into a body that already had a consciousness would eventually prove fatal. Killing another consciousness to replace it with one's own is… Taxing.

And even if he was the REAL Garmr, transferring into different bodies—murdering people and replacing their essence with his for 25,000 years, he certainly would not look like the real Garmr would he?

No, Ursi finally reasoned. He would naturally be in a completely different body. Maybe not even a Bothan body. He must be lying. Our friend on Leritor must have Cloned a body that looked like the form of Garmr to be worshipped by these people—Yes, he's a pretender just like all of the other Bothan cults. But kriff… This means...

Just as Ursi settled on her conclusion, they reached a gear-shaped metallic door, composed of a ruby substance Ursi did not recognise.

She waited for a moment, standing at Vasa's side. Vruj and Luugor stood behind them, making odd crab-like crackling noises as they tapped their feet with jittery excitement.

A snarling male Bothan voice came through somewhat staticky from an intercom overhead. "Director Ursi Ek'fon… And Vasa… You may enter my domain."

Vasa snorted, muttering curses under her breath.

Ursi's fur swirled stiffly in a mix of fear and nervousness. She had been in fear of Garmr before—he had a reputation for being a complete maniac. Before he had retired, his job at the Spynet was to assassinate inept or treacherous agents as the head of Reaper division. Now that she was certain he was a Bothan with a literal god complex, she was really afraid.

For a moment, the door made a horrible grinding screech of gears that had not been oiled. Then it rolled open, slowly and ominously.

While the door was still half-closed and rolling open, Vasa walked in briskly without hesitation, fur twitching in annoyance.

Ursi jogged after her, stifling a yelp.

Inside was a triangular throne room with three sparkling black marble walls. Directly in front of them, at the point where two walls came together, was an unremarkable old wooden desk. Two faded plastic chairs, one lime-green and one maroon, were positioned on one side of the desk.

At the other side of the desk was a solid black marble throne, elevated a meter off the ground on a gold-trimmed pedestal. Seated atop the throne, dressed in black robes, was Garmr. His blood-red coloured irises contrasted heavily with his dark robes and shaggy snow white fur.

Vasa stormed across the room in a huff. A horrible plastic-on-marble screech echoed in the room as Vasa gripped the back of the lime green chair. After pulling it out a few inches from the desk, she sat down with a dramatic huff.

Garmr smiled. "You may take a seat," he growled wryly, gesturing to the tacky very out-of-place plastic lawn chairs.

Ursi slowly approached the throne, fur swirling as she politely picked up her chair, carrying it back a few inches from the desk, then sat down quietly. Not only were the chairs ridiculous compared to the rest of the room's furnishings, but the desk had graffiti carved into it.

Clearly an old school desk, Ursi thought. I wonder what the symbolism is...

"Do you know why I have summoned you to Gnipahellir?" Garmr asked. He lowered his hood, allowing his bright white ears to perk up.

"Because you want to be reassured that we are on top of things, my Lord," Vasa growled cautiously, then promptly began psycho-analysing him. "You are concerned that my objective was only fifty percent successful and, since you have pathological narcissism, you require excess amounts of reassurance from your subordinates."

Garmr let off a wordless snarl, flashing his teeth at Vasa.

Ursi's fur fell flat. She whimpered in terror, scooting her chair a few inches to the right, as if afraid Vasa might spontaneously combust.

"Tarkin is still alive," Vasa continued, showing not the slightest sign of fear, "and because of your narcissism, you don't trust me when I say Tarkin will soon be finished over holomessage, or over whatever confounded ancient encryption device you use!" the old Bothan snarled, gesturing over to the rotary encryption device in the corner of the room and keyboard—a copy of the same one they have on Atzerri.

"Are you finished?" Garmr growled cautiously.

"No, my Lord," Vasa snorted. "I am not finished yet. You don't trust us—"

—US?! Ursi let out a loud whimper at Vasa slowly involving her in this psychological tirade.

Vasa scowled at Ursi, then looked back up to Garmr, and continued. "You don't trust me or Director Ursi Ek'fon when we tell you that Tarkin will be dealt with—when we tell you over rotary encryption messages, that is. So, it's simple, you summon us here. In the flesh, our presence here—the effort we took flying all the way from Atzerri to meet with you, reassures you. Now when I tell you that Tarkin will be dealt with, you are reassured. See?"

After five seconds of silence, Garmr frowned. "I have heard quite a lot from Vasa Ro'val, unsurprisingly."

Vasa's fur danced with pride.

"...Plenty from the Galaxy's stupidest psychiatrist," Garmr continued with a snarl, to which Vasa's fur twitched in annoyance. "But I haven't heard a word from you, Director. Why do you think I summoned you and Vasa?"

Ursi stuttered for a moment, then gulped. For a wild moment, she reached to the top pocket of her coat—reaching for her prepared statement but stopped. No that's a dumb idea, she thought, shaking her head. "I—I don't know, my Lord," she growled nervously.

"I suppose it could be Itoll Oc'skar and Lir Sey'les," Vasa growled thoughtfully. "But, my Lord, might I remind you that the losses Reaper suffered were entirely your fault."

"How do you know about that?" Garmr snarled, sitting forward at the edge of his throne. "Who told you?"

"Multiple Bothans in the Diplomatic Corps asked me if I knew anything about some ghosts who showed up in the Phare Mall and shot a senator," Vasa snorted mirthfully. "I still have quite a few contacts—"

"—WHAT DID YOU TELL THEM?!" Garmr yelped. His poofy white fur suddenly flattened.

"Oh nothing, old friend," Vasa smirked. "Nothing of consequence at least."

The lights began dancing in Ursi's eyes as she looked from Vasa's smirking face, to Garmr's snarling face, then back to Vasa. Finally, she gasped for breath, panting.

"Director?" Garmr asked, "would you like a Kothtri?"

Ursi's fur pressed tightly against her body.

It was common knowledge amongst the Spynet Directors that Garmr and the Kaminoans specialised genetically-specific poisons which would kill only specific individuals, or groups of closely-related individuals. Over the years, while working for Garmr, Reaper squad had eliminated many inept Spynet operatives by poisoning a drink that would only kill them specifically and no one else.

"I think I am fine," Ursi croaked, "or maybe just a water."

"I'll take a Kothtri," Vasa growled wryly.

Garmr snapped his fingers. The two Sauvax stepped out of the room for a moment then returned, each carrying a tray with a drink.

Ursi growled a polite "thank you" to Luugor and took a sip of water.

Vasa held her Kothtri to her snout, sniffing it furiously. "My friend, if I die here—There are Bothans in the Diplomatic Corps who know where I am. I did not tell them enough to know your people shot our Senator, Polo Se'lab, but I told them enough to get suspicious if I disappeared or died suddenly."

"It's not poisoned," Garmr grunted.

Vasa took a cautious sip.

o.o.o.o.o

After twenty minutes of more relaxed chatter—chatter without anyone falling over dead, Ursi's fur relaxed. Maybe our friend on Leritor isn't quite the maniac every Bothan has made him out to be…

Until Garmr turned the topic back to business. "Back on the topic of Itoll Oc'skar and Lir Sey'les—"

"—Called it," Vasa interrupted with a triumphant snarl. "I knew it all along!"

Ursi closed her eyes in anguish, fur swirling nervously again. Kriff it. I wish I had just shot Vasa six months ago.

"Vasa," Garmr growled cautiously, "how many languages does Sey'les speak?"

"Oh, a patient profile? Easy questions my Lord," Vasa yipped mirthfully. "Basic, Shyriiwook, Bocce, and of course Bothese. You must think I am really off my game!"

Ursi's brow furrowed. She had thought of Sey'les as nothing more than a mindless grunt who occasionally made half-accurate assessments of how corruptible a particular Jedi was.

"Did Lir Sey'les ever make any progress—did she make any friends with members of other species?"

"If you could call it that," Vasa scoffed.

"Your reports indicate that, while you were Director of Coruscant Operations, Lir Sey'les was intimate with Archumagh, the CEO of a mercenary firm Éxecutive Outcomes for a time... During this time, and up until the middle of last year, she was also intimate with Woshyrryagh, Senator Yarua's Chief of Staff?"

Ursi let off a whistle.

"I told her to knock it off, well, more politely," Vasa explained. "It is an embarrassment to our entire species when a Bothan—"

"—Ursi? How extensive is our intelligence operation on Kashyyyk?" Garmr interrupted, looking down now at Ursi, who blinked in astonishment.

"Not very," Ursi gulped, realising where this conversation was going.

"Typically we receive a dossier or two in an entire year," Garmr snarled. "All coming from the Bothan Diplomatic Corps."

"You are correct, my Lord," Ursi admitted.

"Essence Transfer does not work from Bothan to Wookiee," Garmr muttered bitterly.

Vasa folded her arms over her chest defensively. "Well, my Lord, Lir Sey'les was, frankly, giving more intelligence to the Wookiees than she was giving to us. From HoloCall intercepts, we determined the Wookiees not only had every psychological profile of Jedi that Sey'les ever wrote, but they were also… Well… The Wookiees were building on those profiles by asking Sey'les questions and having conversations with her… Over dates, Senatorial gatherings my operatives had infiltrated, probably—"

"—In other words," Garmr snorted, "while you were Director of Coruscant Operations, you were paying Lir Sey'les for digital copies of her psych profiles of Jedi, but then you never talked to her about them?"

Ursi frowned. How kriffing inept can you possibly be?

"Well," Vasa huffed, "Sey'les never had that relationship with any Spynet handlers."

After a pause, Garmr spoke slowly and deliberately. "Let me make sure I understand the situation correctly, Vasa. You had an asset on the world under your jurisdiction, who was intimate with not one but two high profile Wookiees. And you instructed her to break it off?"

"She was leaking information," Vasa snarled. "And I frankly find it disgusting that she was having relationships with an inferior species! But it wasn't primarily because of my disgust. I allowed her to continue her relationship with an Ardennian, Razal Wulf, without mentioning or complaining about it once. She was not leaking sensitive intel to the Ardennians, was she?"

Ursi's snout hung open in shock. She knew Vasa held many prejudiced and old-fashioned views, but to use them as an excuse for incompetence was remarkable.

Garmr closed his red eyes in anguish. "Inferior species? Vasa, do you realise Wookiees can survive temperatures of below -100º completely unclothed—barefoot without risk of suffering frostbite?"

"My Lord," Vasa stammered, "that hardly qualifies—"

"—They can live over 400 years!"

"—They are uncivilised!" Vasa protested in a yelp. "They are unpredictable! The Wookiees interfere with our goals at every possible moment! We cannot transfer our consciousness into their bodies, so we have no idea what they are up to," she added, balling her fists. "The Wookiees are a threat to Bothan civilisation!"

"Perhaps Wookiees wouldn't be such an unpredictable element if Lir Sey'les told you what they were up to—what their goals were!" Garmr scoffed. "Has it ever occured to you that intelligence gathering can be done without hijacking the body of an alien, and then infiltrating their society?"

"Of course," Vasa snorted. "We gather electronic intelligence and organic intelligence all the time. As Director of Coruscant Operations, I oversaw those efforts regularly."

"I understand the Sauvax," Garmr muttered, gesturing to Luugor and Vruj. "I cannot cast my consciousness into the body of one of them—Their minds are too different. Yet, I have been around them for years and they are no longer unpredictable to me. Are you?"

"No, my Lord," Vruj and Luugor answered in unison.

"Sey'les did what the Wookiees told her," Vasa protested. "She didn't figure them out, she just—"

"—Maybe that's our way in with the Wookiees. Our way to figure them out," Garmr muttered under his breath. "Yes, let the Wookiee win at Dejarik…"

Vasa shook her head incredulously, fur twirling.

"Even the Ardennian…" Garmr growled. "What a waste. The Diplomatic Corps has an embassy on Kashyyyk, so at least we have something. Bothans have absolutely no presence on Ardennia! No Bothan can even speak Ardennian!"

"Ardennians speak Basic!" Vasa yelped incredulously.

Ursi was stewing over this revelation about Sey'les. Unable to hold it in anymore, she snarled angrily "what a waste, Vasa! A completely short-sighted—"

"—She was uncooperative!" Vasa snarled back.

"What proportion of Spynet assets, would you say, are working for us due to blackmail or other sorts of persuasion?" Garmr asked.

"Thirty percent," Ursi answered before Vasa could.

"And yet, rather than exploit Sey'les's relationship with the Wookiees, you assigned her to Tarkin," Garmr sighed. "We can allow Spynet assets to be double or even triple agents, so long as the intelligence they give us is worth it. Sey'les was far more useful on Coruscant before you assigned her to Tarkin."

"We did not assign her, my Lord," Vasa explained, causing Ursi's fur to swirl nervously once more at her use of we. "Sey'les was already working for Tarkin when—"

"—But you had the ability to transfer her to a different unit, did you not?" Garmr growled. He stood up from his throne and stepped down before the desk. "Both she and Itoll Oc'skar—in fact—were able to be transferred. Itoll is yet another opportunity wasted. You know he should have been writing profiles on the Jedi, right?"

"I was not aware of Itoll Oc'skar until Sey'les recruited him, my Lord," Vasa explained.

You were not aware of much, Ursi frowned. "My Lord, respectfully, I don't understand why I am here. The Tarkin matter is what is important. Since he has been demoted to Captain, it will be quite easy to create a confluence involving Even Piell, with far fewer moving parts."

"The Tarkin matter, the Tarkin matter," Garmr mock-whimpered. He looked over Ursi's head to the Sauvax and flashed a hand gesture Ursi did not understand.

"My Lord," Ursi continued in her most polite tone, "the fact of the matter is, before the Tarkin Confluence, I was completely uninvolved with—OUCH!"

"GET OFF ME YOU—AHHH!"

Ignoring their protests, Luugor pinched Ursi's left ear, and Vruj pinched Vasa's right.

Next thing the yelping Bothans knew, their faces were slammed into the desk, snouts facing each other.

"You can't kill me," Vasa whimpered. Her eyeballs rolled to the left, struggling to catch a glimpse of Garmr while Vruj held her face down on the desk. "The diplomatic corps—They know I am here… If I don't call back—"

"—My Lord!" Ursi yelped, panting as the pressure on her ear intensified. "This was all Vasa! I had no idea..."

"I love the feeling of lesser demon cartilage breaking under my claws," Luugor exclaimed excitedly.

Rolling his eyes, Garmr flashed another hand gesture to the Sauvax.

Muffled yelps echoed loudly through the corridors of the Rakatan temple. The yelps were so loud that they turned a few ears in the Kaminoan structures across the bridge.